“I will.” She leaned around Merc and waved to Santo. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
Merc grinned at her, then went over to his former mentor.
Merc forced his body to calm its reaction to Ash—something that took an extreme force of will. The woman gave him an extreme case of lover’s balls.
Merc followed Santo as he slowly moved down the line of decaying cages. They didn’t need the dappled moonlight to see where they were going.
“Why are you here?” he asked Santo.
“Can’t a teacher witness a student’s graduation?”
“Who’s the student?”
“You.”
“What did I graduate?”
“You conquered two brilliant new skills.”
“Setting curses and skin-walking? You call that brilliant? I killed people. Regulars. Maybe hundreds of them. The count’s not in yet. I violated Liege’s primary tenet—don’t interfere with the regulars.”
“Liege is a smart man, but his ethics sometimes cloud his judgment. In this instance, you killed bad guys, and in so doing, gave a town reason to hope for a new future.”
“I am the same as those I killed.”
“If that were true, you would not be torturing yourself over your new abilities. And as for why here, you could not have learned these things in your home country. Nor in the U.S.”
“Liege wants you to come to the fort. We have two new mutants in our care, and potentially a whole new team of fighters we can add to our rolls.”
“Tell him I—respectfully—decline.”
Merc quit walking. “You’re needed there.”
“I’m needed everywhere.”
“Make the fort your home base. You can oversee our training.”
“The four of you are already sufficiently trained. Do your own training.”
“Students of the teacher aren’t necessarily equal to the teacher.”
“True.” Santo put his hands behind his back. “I will send a teacher to you.” He started to walk away, but stopped. “Did you know the Omnis have begun manipulating female regulars?”
“We assumed as much, based on data we’ve been assembling.”
Santo nodded. “Protect your women. Keep your healer safe. And heed Lautaro’s warning about the Omni ghoul factory.”
“I know. I found it.”
“Yes. By skin-walking. Congratulations on your new skills.” Santo walked into the shadowy night, disappearing well before distance and the jungle could obscure him.
Merc stared after him a moment, then returned to Ash. She was still sitting on the hood of the Jeep. “He disappeared. He was walking and then—poof!”
“Yeah. He’s freaky like that. A performance for you, probably. He knew you were watching.”
“Can you do that?”
“Most mutants can.”
She smiled. “Summer too?”
“If she’s learned how, sure.”
“Oh! I need a demo when I get back.”
“Why? You’ll either be able to do the same soon, or you’ll have forgotten all about this.”
She put her hands on his shoulders. “Will you let me remember long enough for Summer to give me a show?”
“No.” He lifted her off the hood and set her on her feet. “This isn’t a game. It’s our lives. You’re one of us or you’re not. We’re freaks, for sure, but not to entertain you.”
“I’m sorry. That was obnoxious of me.”
“It was.” He tried not to smile, but it didn’t work because couldn’t stay angry at her.
“Did you get the information you came for?”
“Yes. And no. It’s never straightforward with Santo.” He opened her door. “Let’s go home.”
“I’m a day early for my flight. I’ll have to see about changing it when we get to Medellín.”
“No need. I have another way home for us.”
“A private jet?”
“A private ride, yes. You’ll understand when we get there.” He looked at her, seeing her clearly in the poor light. “We’ll be home in a few hours.” What he didn’t say was that her decision about her future would be due soon after they arrived. He could tell from her troubled mood that she knew she was going to have to give him her answer—and she was a long way from deciding.
Liege—you heard Santo?
I did, Liege said via their mental link. Guerre and Kiera have been working with Owen Tremaine’s tech team to unravel the system hacks that led to certain records being dropped or modified in the different government systems. Kiera’s kept excellent records showing before and after data slices.
Ash and I are heading back.
Roger that. And Merc—it is what it is. If she chooses to join us, we’ll all be there for her. And if she opts to stay human, we’ll be there for you. The Matchmaker doesn’t get to win just because he paired you two.
You know I don’t care about me. I just want her safe. Merc had a gut feeling what her decision was going to be. He had to accept it and remember that it wasn’t a rejection of him, but of transforming into a mutant—the very choice he was trying to protect all humans from having thrust upon them.
And Merc, good job discovering the lab inside what we thought was a mine. We need to do more discovery there before we take it down, but we’ll talk about that you when you get home.
The night’s darkness was a void swallowing them. She could see only as far as their headlights went.
“Are we going to Medellín?”
“No. Lautaro’s.”
“Is it far?”
“A few hours. Try to get some rest.”
Ash reached into her pocket and fingered the fragment of the priest’s alb. She could sense nothing of the priest. Only Merc’s energy resonated from the fabric to surround her in calming, sensual waves.
She wished they were days from returning to Colorado. She didn’t want to make the decision she knew she was headed toward. She’d finally found someone perfect for her, but his cult stood like a wall between them. She wondered if Summer, part of the cult herself, would help her and Kiera break Merc out of it. That was—if Merc could be gotten out at all.
When she looked at him, he was staring at her hand, still in her pocket. The dashboard lights showed his face tighten. He brought the car to a hard stop.
He looked out the dashboard window as he said, “I’ve been wrestling with this, but we can’t keep any of that robe. Even that scrap would give Flynn what he needed to examine my blood.”
Fear washed through Ash. The little scrap was all she’d have left of Merc if she couldn’t get him out of his cult. “I don’t want to let it go.”
Merc put the Jeep in park, then slipped his hand into her pocket, opening her grip and taking the fabric from her. “I will give you my blood. I will soak anything you wish with it, but it has to be done—and kept—in a protected environment. Flynn can break into anything as easily as we broke into the church.”
He got out of the Jeep and went to stand in the headlights. Ash took his hands and held them against her chest. His size made her feel small. “I don’t think Flynn could go into the church.”